Four Hours at Home
by mavrick33
Summary: When a drunk Donna admits more than she should, it prompts Josh to start asking some longawaited questions. Takes place after 20 Hours in America, Oneshot drabble, Complete.


**FOUR HOURS AT HOME**

**BY MAVRICK**

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own _The West Wing_. I'm writing this _fan_ fiction at 11:45 at night. You really think I'm making any money on this?

**SUMMARY:** Um, is there one? It's really just a drabble, like the other drabbles I've been writing lately to get me back into chapter-writing. To having actual plots that have development and… I don't know, something else. So here it is, a mindless fluffy one-shot of Josh and Donna. Ta da!

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** This takes place the night Toby, Josh, and Donna get home in _20 Hours In America_. In the next episode, C.J. says they've been given a four hour vacation. Oh, hey, look, the title! Lookie there! A ploy to tie it together! Otherwise, blah blah blah, I think I pretty much said it above.

Review, pretty please!

… … …

The phone was ringing. Why in the world would someone be calling her _now_? Didn't they know she had just gotten out of a lovely bubble bath and was crawling in bed? "Hello?"

"Donnatella." It was the voice of her boss.

"Josh, what are you doing? Do you know what time it is?" She groaned and flopped back onto her pillows.

"It's only ten. You're usually not even out of the office yet. Are you tired?" he said.

"I've been trying to get home for twenty hours," she complained.

"So have I," Josh defended.

"What do you want?"

"I can't sleep. Wanna go get a drink or something?"

Donna sighed but sat up. "Where?"

"The _Hawk & Duff_?"

"Ok." Donna clicked off the phone, gave her bed one last longing look, and began pulling on street clothes. _This is a bad idea_ she told herself.

It turned out worse than she'd expected, though.

Several hours later found Josh guiding a barely standing Donna into her apartment. He was never going to let her drink again, he decided, and sat her on the couch.

"Josh?" she asked blearily, blinking at him to try and focus.

"Yeah," he kneeled and started removing her shoes. "How do you feel?"

"Was I run over by Air Force One?"

"No."

"Then not so good. What happened?" She was trying to muster the coordination to rub her very sore eyes, but she couldn't remember how to lift her arms.

"You're drunk, Donna," he told her, propping her legs up on the couch. She fell backwards onto the couch cushions.

"Oh. Right. I remember." Visions of beer and a martini and some random man several seats down from her sending another beer flooded back to her. "Crap. I'm sorry Josh."

"It's ok," he assured and pushed hair out of her face. "Go to sleep. I'll call you in the morning."

"Ok." She smiled sleepily and blinked several more times. "Hey Josh?"

"Yeah?"

"I… Hmm…" she snuggled into the couch pillow. "I'm in love with you."

"_What_?" _Am I drunk, too? How many beers did I have?_

But it was too late, she was already sound asleep.

… … …

"Donna." She was lurking, he could tell.

The blonde head poked around the doorway. "Yes?"

"Come in here."

She slowly came to stand just inside his office.

"Close the door."

Even slower, she shut out the noise of the hallway.

"We need to talk."

Her body tensed. "A-about what?" _Damn it_, she cursed her shaky voice and couldn't help twisting her hands nervously. She knew exactly what he wanted to talk about, but it was a subject she avoided like the plague whenever she wasn't too drunk to realize what she was saying. Like last night. _Crap._

Josh stood and walked around his desk to lean against the edge. "Last night."

If possible, her face paled even more and she froze. "I-I…"

"Did you mean it?" It had been bugging him since she'd passed out on her couch several hours ago. One very long night and four hours of vacation spent dwelling on the ramblings of a very drunk Donna did not a happy Josh make. _Donnatella, what are you doing to me?_

"Josh…" She was pleading with him not to make her explain. It would destroy them both and she couldn't live with that.

"Did you?" He was trying hard not to look like the vulnerable little boy he felt.

"I was drunk." She glanced around the room and then down at her shoes.

"Yeah." _That much was obvious, Donna._ Josh nearly grinned despite himself.

"I just… I had too much to drink." She still couldn't look at him.

"Thus the getting drunk."

"Yeah."

They were both silent, and then-

"Donna, why'd you say it? Did you mean it?"

"Josh-," she looked up to scold him for pressing her the one time she'd gotten a little tipsy (totally smashed, more like, but who was keeping track anyway?) when she'd never asked him when he showed up drunk on her doorstep, but her throat constricted and it became impossible. Their eyes met and she found herself confessing everything she'd promised herself not to.

"Donna-," he'd stood and taken a step closer to her.

"Yes. I meant it." She took a deep breath and before he could interrupt her, she continued. "I-I have for awhile now, but I work here and you work here and it wouldn't be professional and you're my boss."

"Donna-,"

"I wanted to tell you, but there was just never a good time, and then you were dating Amy, and-," she never got to finish, though, because suddenly he was kissing her. She had no idea when he'd gotten so close or when her knees had turned to jelly, but it didn't seem to matter.

The kiss was sweet, innocent, really just the pressing of lips together with the slightest bit of pressure to confirm that, yes, it _was_ happening, and then he pulled back to look into her eyes.

"You were babbling." A slow grin was beginning to light up his face.

"Oh." Her brain felt fuzzy. Thinking seemed to be a very slow process. _Oh my God, he kissed me!_ "Josh-,"

"I don't care," he said quickly. "I don't."

"But we work here. We have to… Josh, it has to stay… professional." _Because falling in love with my boss is oh-so professional._

"Why? We work _together_, Donna, _with_ each other. I don't- I can't ignore… you know." Josh was looking at her so earnestly she was forgetting every reason she'd ever told herself to keep at a friendly distance.

"What if Leo finds out? Or the President?"

"Doesn't matter." He was moving closer again.

"Why?" _Ahh__, stop that, I can't think with you so close!_

"They'll understand." Closer still.

"How do you know?"

He grinned. "Because this is true love. You think this happens every day?"

"What, are you Wesley now? If you call me Buttercup I swear I'll-," and he was kissing her again. More, this time, more pressure and more lips and _oh my God_ and her eyes slid shut because Josh was actually kissing her and he'd said true love, and _wow_.

"You'll what?" he asked, pulling back with a full-blown grin now.

"Uh…" She was having trouble thinking. That was an unfair trick to pull! "You just kissed me. You expect me to remember what I was thinking before that?"

"Not really, no," Josh admitted. "I'd be offended if you did."

"Geez, ego much?" She teased and noted that he hadn't really backed away yet. "No wonder Amy broke up with you."

"Hey, that wasn't- How do you know she broke up with me? Maybe I broke up with her."

"Josh, you told me," Donna looked pityingly at him. "When you showed up drunk on my doorstep the next night."

"Oh. Right. Well then…" Josh cleared his throat.

"Yeah…" Donna was beginning to feel very nervous, what with reality setting back in and the lack of kissing happening at that moment. Life was much better when he was kissing her, because then she didn't have to think. She _couldn't_ think, but that wasn't really such a bad thing. "Josh, if you don't want this to-,"

"I told you already, Donna," Josh reached up to caress her cheek. She nearly fell over in shock and happiness. "I don't want to ignore it. I can't."

"Ok." She smiled at him and tried to stop herself from jumping with joy. "What do we do now then?"

"Say it again."

"What?"

"Say it again. I need to hear you say it when you're sober. Not drunk and passing out on the couch." And little-boy Josh was back again. Who gave him permission to sneak in the back door?

Her smile grew just a little bit wider. "I'm in love with you, Josh. I have been for years. When I came back in April and you just… I'm pretty sure that's when I knew."

"Because I'm better looking than Dr. Free-ride?" Josh teased.

"Because you didn't stop for a beer," she was so serious; he had to kiss her again. Hmm, what would happen if he just stayed in his office with Donna the rest of the day? Would they notice his absence? Would they come looking for him? The President _was_ gone at the moment-

"Josh!" Toby's voices shouted through the door.

So much for that plan. Josh pulled away, gave her a quick peck on the cheek, and opened the door. "What?"

"I need to talk to you. Walk with me." Toby looked peeved at having to wait for two seconds. "Hi, Donna. Sorry about yesterday."

"It's ok," she told him. "Josh, you have to call C.J. on Air Force One before the President lands."

"Right. Toby, hold on a sec," Josh pulled Donna to the corner mostly shielded by the walls of his office. "We'll talk again later, ok?"

"Yeah."

"You ok?"

"Fine. Advil is my friend." Donna grinned.

"Yeah." Glancing at the almost-patiently waiting Toby, Josh leaned in and whispered in her ear, "I love you, too, Donnatella." He pulled back to let her witness his smug smile. "I'll be back later. Set up the call for me?"

"You bet." _Wow, my voice even sounded steady. He said he loved me!_

Josh left the office with Toby, who gave him a suspicious look.

"What?" Donna heard Josh ask.

"Nothing…" Toby shrugged but it was clear he had some kind of idea what had happened in the office. "I want to talk to you about teachers…"

They disappeared through the doors to the lobby as Donna returned, grinning like a fool, to her desk to continue working.

Today was a good day. Four-hour vacations were her new best friend.


End file.
